Shortly after First and 10 came out yesterday, I received the following letter.
This letter states things as well as they can be stated. And I could not agree more. I run it in its entirety:
Dear Pat,
My first reaction was that you were being too hard and sour for one game. But then you struck a chord with me when you wrote that things happen to other teams but never to the Browns. I know that Eric Mangini needs time but the Browns constantly repeat a bad history.
I have been a fan since 1955. And the Browns have been playing mediocre-to-bad football really for 40 years. Yeah, I know — the Kardiac Kids and Bernie's teams. But the hard fact is that they didn't win anything.
Our best teams in the past 40 years are most famous for their embarrassing losses. Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, The Helmet — all without any titles. We have produced one Hall of Fame player since the 1960s. Fans and writers are reduced to trying to squeeze yet another old timer into the Hall because nobody after 1990 is worthy.
And the themes over 40 years are remarkably similar. Consider Browns quarterbacks … except for the Lindy Infante Renaissance … never throw the ball down the field. On national television, Bill Walsh was begging Bernie in the AFC championship game in Denver in Bud Carson's first year to throw the ball downfield. Nope.
Other teams throw 15-to-25 yard middle routes all the time. Mark Sanchez did it immediately in his first Jets game. Not us. DA did it for a while and then couldn't do it anymore. No matter who coaches or who is drafted, we dink and dunk with a singular inability to come back once down.
No matter who coaches or who is drafted we have a "bend not break" defense. Other teams attack — the top teams attack all the time but the Browns stress “gap integrity.” So in big moments over 40 years, we can't stop the other team. Ever. Not one time in a big moment.
Other teams launch hellacious blitzes out of the three-four. Not us. Other teams can run a no-huddle giddyup offense when time is short. Not us. Bernie and Sipe had their moments but ultimately didn't win. The free agent system creates parity for other teams. Not us.
Here's is the biggest sign of failure. A Billy Bidwill franchise beat us to the Super Bowl.
So were you too hard on the Browns? On the one hand-yeah. But after 40 years of lousy football with intermittent bursts of mediocrity, no.
Bill Hennessy
Wading River, New York
"VERBATIM"
We all know the past. Maybe it's time we stopped living in it.
Let's break out the old footage of Jim Brown and Otto one more time!
"On this day in Cleveland Browns football, 55 years ago…"
Actually, Tim Couch had his moments too. When he was allowed to be the player he actually was; more often then not he was pretty darn good on some terrible teams with bad defenses and mediocre offensive supporting casts. To lift some of those teams like he did on some Sundays; well I think he'll be appreciated someday more then he is now. By some fans this is already recognized. I agree with the e-mailer. We aren't cursed. We just can't seem to get out of this losing culture of bad luck that we create on our own.